Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All:

LMI recently offered Kauri wood and I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with it. I did buy a b/s set thinking to use it for a classical guitar, however the wood is quite light and feels more like cedar than a typical hardwood used for back and sides.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

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When you get ready to prep for finish use a sharp scraper on the Kauri instead of 220 or 320 to prep for sealing and watch the light show amaze you with iridescent!!!!!!!!!

I would love to have a set of this stuff one day. I had read that the patience and effort in working through to fine grits with this wood really paid off...

In fact, somebody videoed the "whitebait" grain activity....sanded to 1200 grit, believe it or not..

http://www.ancientwood.com/stock/movie.html

I stock this stuff and i love it.

it is a bit softer than most hardwoods but as you say it is on a par with spanish cedar.
its fine to use but i would advise a good laqure finish not oil and as others have said take your time with serfice prep.
i sand to 500 grit and then micro mesh to 12,000 and you sudenly get a serfice with an irredecence to die for.

In actual fact kauri is a softwood (comonly known as kauri pine) but it is one of the denser softwoods so dont fret about using it.

kauri wood is a real diamond in the rough and looks awfull in its raw state but it suddenly comes to life when you prep it well and apply finish.

Some have said it sounds somewhat like walnut but i cant vouch for that i am afraid.

Btw sam i will have some high grade whitebait sets when the new website goes live.

Joel.

Thanks for the responses. I can proceed with confidence and a certain eagerness to see how it finishes and how it sounds too. I may try a WR Cedar top.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

Now that's a big tree!

Goerge - I bought a set from Bob (RCtonewoods) but haven't worked mine yet. If you haven't seen it already, google Laurie Williams - he is a New Zealand Luthier who uses it alot with nice info on his website (http://www.guitars.co.nz). I just tried the website, it's down at the moment, but have a look!

Can anyone recommend a back and side thickness?

Thanks,

Laurie (no relation to the Laurie above )

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Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

This place is only about 2 hrs from my folks in northern Wisconsin. A couple of years ago I dropped by to visit, Bob was very hospitable...he met me at the Madeline Island ferry so that I didn't have to pay to bring my car over, drove me back to his place, let me poke around his prodigious stash for a good 90 minutes, then drove me back to the ferry. A class guy. Clearly the demand for this stuff was taking off, and I see now he's got quite a few more distributors then he had back then.

I scored a 1-piece body blank for an electric...it's still waiting for me to work it. The age of the stuff really appeals to me (I'm a geologist by day....).

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

Hi Lauri:

Thanks for the reference to Laurie Williams. His pics of Ancient Kauri show pretty dramatic figure. What I got from LMI (the less expensive set) is just not comparable, not that I was looking for flame. The medullary rays on my set are pretty strong so while subtle in comparison to other woods I think it will be very attractive. The wood is fairly stiff and has a nice sustaining tap tone but feels like it will be finished thicker than a heavier wood like EIR. One local luthier said it felt like cypress to him.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

I've been using up a large plank of Kauri (the local North Queensland variety) for all my laminated bindings, and have used it on a couple of guitars for braces. I had thought about using it as a top wood, but didn't care for the color of it for that. It might make nice back and side sets though.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
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Cairns, Australia